Saturday

HEMPFIELD TWP. — When the Beaver girls made their way to their locker room after a season-ending loss, several of them cried. But it didn't take long for those tears to go away.

Friday night, after listening to post-game remarks from coach Greg Huston, it actually sounded like the Bobcats were celebrating.

"Yeah, that's them in there hooting and hollering," Huston said. "There were a lot of tears in there but when they thought 'Wow, we made it this far,' those tears turned to smiles pretty quickly."

To be sure, Beaver was disappointed after losing to Central Cambria, 69-35, in the PIAA Class 3A playoffs. It was the most lopsided loss of the season for the Bobcats (19-6), a young squad that starts three sophomores and a freshman.

On this night, they simply couldn't handle the Red Devils (20-7), a talented and experienced team that starts three seniors and two juniors.

“You can sense their athleticism on film, but until we got out there and saw it live … they’re better than they looked on film,” Huston said. "They got up and down the court better than us. They shot the ball better than we did. They just played better than us. That’s a very good basketball team.”

Not only does Central Cambria have three experienced seniors, they're experienced multi-sport athletes.

Central Cambria point guard McKenna Hayward, a Bloomsburg University recruit, will have earned 11 varsity letters in basketball, soccer, cross country and track by the time she graduates. She scored a game-high 22 points.

Jenna Bauer, a 5-foot-10 forward who’s going to Penn State Altoona to play volleyball, will end up earning 12 letters in volleyball, basketball and track. She scored 15 points.

Senior guard Paige Wess scored nine points on three 3-pointers. An Indiana University of Pennsylvania soccer recruit, she'll wind up with 12 letters in cross country, soccer, basketball and track.

"That's a very talented team," said Beaver guard Emma Pavelek. "We have to give them a lot of respect."

In a game played at Hempfield High School, Central Cambria dominated from the opening tip.

Hayward opened the scoring by making a 3-pointer.

Bauer powered her way to a basket to make it 5-0.

Junior guard Cassidy Bezek scored inside to make it 7-0.

Bauer scored again in the paint to make it 9-0.

The rout was on.

Central Cambria led 17-10 after the first quarter, 39-22 at halftime and 54-29 after three quarters of play.

“It’s unfortunate. We didn’t want to lose, especially the way we lost,” Huston said. “But we’re not ashamed about anything. We’re extremely happy and proud of what we did accomplish.”

In that regard, Beaver deserves respect, too.

By going 19-6 in a rebuilding year, it matched the win total of last year’s 19-7 squad that made it to the WPIAL 4A championship game.

This season, these Bobcats were the first basketball team from Beaver – boys or girls -- to advance to the PIAA quarterfinals.

"I told the girls I was proud of them ... nothing to be ashamed of," Huston said. "They did everything we asked them to do. They exceeded everybody's expectations. Their own, mine, the fans' ... everybody's."

Because of what this young squad accomplished this year, expectations will be high next year.

The Bobcats only lose one starter in senior forward Qhamille Monteiro. They'll return their three sophomore starters in Pavelek, Weiland and guard Anna Blum as well as guard/forward Payton List, a freshman starter. Another 10th grader, guard Natalie Priest, has been the first sub off the bench.

"We'll definitely miss Qhamille with all the energy and everything she brings to the team," Pavelek said. "But I'm really excited about the next two seasons with this group of girls. Especially because a lot of the teams that were our toughest competition are graduating a lot of girls.

"We're really proud of what we did this season. We didn't go as far as we wanted to. But with such a young team I think we did OK. So we're really looking forward to our future."

Pavelek was one of the Bobcats who cried and then smiled after Friday's game.

"Well, we were basically telling Qhamille how much we're going to miss her," Pavelek said. "Then we gave each other a big group hug because we really did have a great season."

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